Houmt Souq

Houmt Souq, meaning literally: "The Market neighborhood", is the main town of the island of Djerba, Tunisia. A popular tourist destination, it is best-known for its traditional souq (market) and the Aghlabid fortress.

It is located at approximately 20 kilometers from Ajim and 22 kilometers from El Kantara by the Roman road. It is also the chief town and a municipality comprising of 64,892 inhabitants. The city itself shelters a population of 44,555 inhabitants as of 2004. The city developed on the old site of a Roman city called Gerba or Girba which had the honor of giving birth to two Roman Emperors, Trebonianus Gallus and his son Volusianus.

The coexistence of various ethnicities (in particular Berber, Arab and black African) and of various religious beliefs contributed to the richness and the variety of the cultures and traditions of this locality. The island of Djerba is a true mosaic of cultures and traditions and even the accent of its inhabitants varies from one locality to another, thus the Houmt Souq accent is different from the other localities.